Friday, November 30, 2007

Today I packed up my autumn themed decorations and brought out my winter ones. I thought I'd share glimpses of my winter themed decor with you. First up are simple bits of patchwork and cross stitich sewn into little pillows to add some charm to a basket. A place of prominence in the display is given to the red velvet mini pillow I made specifically for a piece of tatting made by my great-grandmother. Not only are these pillows visually pleasing, but with a homemade spicy potpourri inserted inside one, it is also lending the aromatic pleasure of such spices as cinnamon.

Next up, are two of my handmade fleece snowmen, which are a sure sign of winter (and some winters the only snowmen that last more than a day in our part of the world...) I'm quite happy with how these fellows turned out and this year they get to sit upon a recently thrifted runner that supports the snowflake theme ;o) A close-up of the larger snowman to show you the sequins added to his vest and hat. The smaller snowman sports a hat and scarf adorned with puff paint snowflakes. Both snowmen have carrot noses made from Sculpey, beads for their mouths and twig arms.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

... and made this wallhanging. I simply outline quilted around the leaves and the blocks they're appliqued on and then stipple quilted the border. The biggest delay in finishing this project was deciding on a backing fabric. You can see what I finally chose in the far right of the photo. Nice and bright with all those yummy fall colours.

Yep, I finished this just in time for it to be put away until next fall as it's now time to bring out the winter themed decorations. ;o) Sew it goes!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Here's my fabric choices for the third block in the 12 block series being led by the talented Amandajean at Crazy Mom Quilts. You can view the other participants blocks from links along the sidebar on Amandajean's site. C'mon, join in, if you haven't already! Making one block a week is manageable... and think of the end results... in a mere 12 weeks you will have all the blocks required to make your own quilt!

Monday, November 26, 2007

... along with this drawstring tote... ...and then this zippered tote. A fun use for all those little bits of fabric! More fun when you listen to a favourite audiobook while you sew, like I did (Pride & Prejudice this time around).

Thursday, November 22, 2007

I joined the fun over at Crazy Mom Quilts and have finally stitched up the first two blocks in the 12 week Quilt - Along. Go see the sidebar on her blog to find links to all the participants in this quilting treat. It's fun to see the variations created on these blocks that comes from choosing different fabrics . Exciting to guess what block we'll be sewing up next week and how beautiful our quilt tops will be at the end of the 12 weeks. Get some fabrics and join in!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Need a quick crafted project to add some seasonal splash for Thanksgiving? How about making these leaf decorated candles?

You will need some pressed leaves, a light coloured sheet of beeswax along with a light coloured pillar candle and finally, your hair dryer. Measure the height and circumference of the candle. Cut the sheet of beeswax to the desired finished height and add 1/4" to the circumference measurement to give you overlap to secure the beeswax.Lay the leaves (darker ones show through the best) face down onto the sheet of beeswax. Make sure you leave space clear along the length that forms the overlap.Lay the candle at the edge of the sheet of beeswax, lining up the top and bottom of the candle with the cut edges. You may need to warm the beeswax up by using your hair dryer on the lowest heat setting, if your sheet of beeswax is cold, otherwise it will not be pliable enough to wrap around the candle and will only crack apart.Once you have rolled the candle in the sheet of leaf covered beeswax you need to overlap the wax at the back to create a small seam. You will use your hand held hair dryer to heat the wax gently to create this seam, using your fingertips to press the layers together to secure them.

These are two of the several candles I've made using different candle sizes. On the shorter candle I actually cut a circle of beeswax (but didn't layer in any leaves) to cover the top of the candle and poked the wick up through the center. For the taller candle I only covered the sides of candle in beeswax.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Welcome ! I have been posting over at Four Friends and a Blog with three of my dear friends for nearly a year now, but recently decided to venture into blogging on my own as well. I look forward to sharing and hopefully inspiring you with my creative endeavours in this space. Please feel free to share your comments when you visit.

Now onto some news! I signed up over at Nadine's blog Friendship Threads to participate in a Pay It Forward Exchange. Here's the explanation and what I'll be doing as given by Nadine:

This is how it goes : it's the Pay It Forward exchange, based on theconcept of the movie "Pay It Forward", where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return, just passing it on, hoping that the recipients will do the same and pay it forward, like a never ending chain of kindness...How to proceed ?I will make and send a handmade gift for the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post, requesting to join this exchange, and promising to pay it forward to 3 other persons, etc....I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, but I can promise I will send them within the next 6 months .What YOU have to do in return then, is pay it forward by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog.

Sound like fun? I think so! I wonder who will I be sending handmade gifts to???